Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can be used to provide low-cost, low-power lighting in a variety of situations, including home, automotive, and commercial. However, in order for the LEDs to be properly controlled, there must be conductive lines that run from a controller to each of the LEDs. The requirement to have these conductive lines to control the operation of the LEDs means that in conventional lighting devices, a pair of lines can be seen that connect to each LED in the lighting device.
As a result of this, there is a limit on the attractiveness of conventional lighting devices. For aesthetic reasons, many designers and consumers would like the LEDs alone to be visible in a lighting element, making them appear as if they were lights standing alone, without any support.
In addition, many lighting devices are rigid devices, which limit their use in many situations by fixing their size and shape.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a low-power, flexible lighting device that includes one or more relatively large lighting elements, but that can be easily manufactured in which all elements of the lighting device, aside from the lighting elements, were either transparent or at least very difficult to see with the naked eye.